Should I declare a state tax refund on my federal return, from a prior, year even though I never received a 1099G for it?

[Anil-S]

Based on my initial state tax returns for 2014 I received a refund of $1000. However I filed an amendment in the same year and ended up paying $1500. Since the net effect was not receiving a refund I did not receive a 1099G from my state for the tax year 2015 and hence did not have to declare anything on my federal tax return for 2015. Last year I realized I had made a mistake by filing the amendment and filed another amendment to reverse the previous one. I received the $1500 I had paid + taxes. This year I received a 1099-INT for the interest portion. However I did not receive a 1099G for the original $1000 refund. So my question is, should I declare this amount in my federal return?

[AmandaR1 · Accepted solution]

Yes, you are correct that you should account for the $1000 refund. It may or may not be taxable, but you do not need to receive a 1099-G to enter. Either way, you can enter it and the software will walk you through determining if it's taxable and, if so, how much of it is taxable. 

To enter, in the top right search bar enter 'tax refunds, state and local' and then select the first jump to link. You'll be able to select the year of refund date as 2013. 

I can also save you some time by explaining that if you did not itemize your 2013 taxes, then you do not need to enter this at all. If you itemized your deduction in 2013, you should enter it because you took a deduction for the $1,000. It's only taxable to the extent you received a tax deduction for it in the prior year, which would be 2013. 

If you are unsure, look at your 2013 form 1040 line 40. If the amount on this line is coming from schedule A (the next page), then you've itemized your deductions. 

If you see your state and local taxes deducted on schedule A (most common), then you got a deduction for that $1,000 and that's why it's reportable. 

[sg11sg]

What if I forgot to include my estimated tax amount which means I never included the 1099-G as part of my deductions, so never got a federal credit for it. How do I use Turbotax to not end up with a tax on the refund amount.